Now, the fun begins. Are you ready? FIGHT!


Chapter 11: The First Battle

Miho stood straight on the smooth asphalt, staring intensely at the sinister men standing before her. The gray sky covered what remained of the afternoon sun, except for a single ray of light, which dimly lit the space between Miho and the agents.

Miho breathed deeply, while stretching her hands. The light grew thinner.

"I don't know who you are," said Miho. "But you are up to no good."

The agents said nothing, as they slowly reached into their pockets. The light grew thinner.

"And nobody," said Miho, calm as ever. "Treats human beings like that."

The light was now as small as a manhole.

"Not against my friends," Miho continued, standing her ground proud and tall.

The agents clenched their hands, grabbing something in their suits.

"And not," said Miho, as the light shrank to the size of a small hole. "Against Mason."

The light disappeared, and the agents fired.

Miho dodged to the left, as two strange bullets flew through, the bright green lights hitting nearby where the girls were; they sent out strange sparks, as if electric. She dashed to the car, on the other side of the agents. The agents, startled, then watched her from the windows.

"Please!" Mason called. "Do NOT fire at my windows! I don't know how to explain to my mom if they get broken!"

"In your face," said Agent Copper, as he took out a baton, extended it, and was about to swing it-

Bang!

"Ouch!" Agent Copper winced, as a kick to his face knocked him to the ground, the baton flying in the air. Seeing her nearby, Agent Tin backed away, whipping out a strange device that looked like a cell phone, and fired it.

Miho dodged it, and watched as a strange puddle of orange liquid formed on the asphalt, which then quickly disappeared.

"Another form of interference," said Tin, growling. "But that wasted half of it!"

"Watch it!" Agent Copper roared. "She's not the problem; get the mirror!"

"Don't worry about it," said Miho. "He's not going to use it."

They stared at her.

"The winner will get it," she bluntly said. "And I intend to keep fighting to the very end."

"Suit yourself," growled Agent Copper. "Tin, you get the girls. I will deal with her."

Copper stretched his muscles, then took off his suit. A few strange gadgets fell from the suit, but he did not care as he threw them to the side, while kicking the gadgets away.

"I am going to crush your bones," said Copper, cracking his knuckles. "You should not have mastered the interference by now."

"Why?" asked Miho.

"Because I did!" he roared, charged in, and hit her with his open right hand.

"Ouch!" she screamed, as a strange pulse struck throughout her body. She jumped away, just as Copper was about to grab her with both of his arms. She jumped again, as Agent Tin blocked the other girls away from her.

"Ouch," she groaned, as she leaped to the roof.

"You OK?" Mason asked. He dashed to her, but carefully as the roof was triangular.

"Stay there," she replied, wincing. "Oh, that hurt!"

"Interference here," Copper smirked, showing his palms. The girls and Mason gasped, as what looked like red blood vessels coursed through his palms.

"I call them," Copper continued. "Vampiric palms. I personally made this; it sucks a little bit of blood, nothing more. But I hit you enough, and you will feel too tired to even fight."

"Agent Copper," Agent Tin whispered. "Watch that move; interference is still dangerous, you know."

Tin checked upon the girls, who stopped struggling with their ropes. Unbeknownst to him, Saori had another knife, and allowed Anzu to get a hold of it from her left pocket. Silently feigning innocence, Anzu gave an occasional smirk as she slowly cut her own rope.

"And I intend to weaken her," said Agent Copper. "Then, we can deal with the rest."

"Miho!" Mason called, but she did not answer. She thought for a moment, then jumped down; Mason noticed her eating something.

"Oho," said Copper. "Let's fight, then!"

"Hey," began Tin. "I saw-"

He did not finish, as Copper bumped into him, and slammed into her, his hands on Miho's chest. Miho got knocked back, but landed on her feet, clenching her chest. Agent Copper's hands were now coursing with red lines that now looked more like paint.

Miho winced.

"Little girl," Agent Copper said. "You failed to dodge, eh?"

"Agent Copper?" Agent Tin asked, eyes wide open. "W-wait!"

"I am getting you!" Copper lunged for Miho, who deliberately did not dodge. He grabbed her arms, and drained her blood with his palms.

"Yes!" he cackled, as his hands became redder and redder. "Now, you lose!"

"Agent Copper!" Tin realized, but it was too late.

Miho smiled, wrestled herself free, and jumped away. She then drew out something that looked like a tiny umbrella.

White with a red cap.

"Thank you for draining my poisoned blood," she replied calmly. "Fly agaric mushroom is poisonous, after all."

"What!" Agent Copper roared. "How did you-you...oh..."

He wobbled back and forth.

"I knew it!" Agent Tin blurted out. "I thought I saw you eat something! Fly agaric mushroom? Poisonous! And how did it course through your blood so fast?"

"Aye..." Agent Copper wobbled back and forth.

"I thought about interference," she explained. "And I wondered, because you guys seem to call it 'power.' My mom explained that we have power in the blood. Blood, I thought. So, despite Copper saying that I have no experience with controlling it, I decide to give it a try."

"And you," said Tin. "Somehow successfully caused the poison to get into your arms, so Copper..."

"Essentially took all of my poison out," she finished. "And yes, he looks bad."

Copper was wobbling around, as if hallucinating.

"Don't worry," said Miho. "You will be fine, if you drain all that blood out."

"Aye..." Agent Copper blankly obeyed, as he clapped his hands together. A strange ball of red formed, and his hands were clean and white. He then threw it into the forest, then collapsed, exhausted.

"He's fine," said Miho, as Tin checked him.

"So," said Agent Tin. "No more tricks here."

"I don't trust you," Miho bluntly said.

"So do I," said Agent Tin, clenching his fists. He reached out into his suit, but stopped as Miho charged at him. She grabbed both of his arms, each with her own arm, and wrestled with him. The two kept this for a while, trying to gain the upper hand.

"Strong girl," Tin remarked. "That slim body of yours has a lot of interference, but you should be weak from the lack of blood!"

"My mom and former school trained me," Miho answered. "And I intend to keep fighting. Plus, I have recovered my blood."

"What?" Tin asked, aghast. "So, you already mastered it subconsciously, eh?"

"Maybe," Miho answered, still wrestling.

"But can you?" taunted Tin, as he tried a false move, but Miho anticipated it. She twisted his arms, forcing him to retract and maintain his stand.

"It's a long brawl, eh?" groaned Tin, as the two kept wrestling each other.

Agent Copper laid on the ground, panting for breath. Anzu made a face, as she was trying to cut the last rope.

"This is between you and me," said Miho.

"Yes, it is!" grunted Tin.

"Not you," said Miho.

"Eh?"

Anzu blinked, then smiled. She cut the last rope down, and looked at the knife.

"I guess it's stronger than the one Miho used," whispered Saori, as Anzu proceeded to cut the ropes of Yukari.

"Why her first?" asked Momo, almost yelling.

"Hush," whispered Anzu. "She has experience with reconnaissance, and maybe a little martial arts, do you?"

"Well," said Yukari. "Maybe not as skilled as Nishizumi-dono."

The two kept wrestling with each other. Although Agent Tin was larger and more muscular than Miho, she held her ground with amazing strength.

"I think that Tin guy," said Saori. "Is about 183 cm tall, but looks way bigger due to his broad torso."

"Nice fighting there," Yukari whistled, as Anzu continued to cut the last three ropes binding her.

"And quite elegant," said Hana. "While the Tin-sama is fighting like a sumo, Miho-san is fighting like a dancer."

"And a pro at it," remarked Anzu.

"Prez!" Momo roared. "Stop watching them like a spectator! We're in trouble!"

"I know," answered Anzu, as she was on the last bind. "But it's fun."

"And entertaining," said Yuzu. "Maybe we should take some self-defense. Right, Momo-chan?"

"Stop calling me Momo-chan!" she groaned. "And why not me first? I want to get out of this bind!"

"Like I said," said Anzu, as she cut the last rope. Yukari stretched her freed hands, groaning in relief. "I will free Miho's teammates first, then ours. Yukari, go and sneak away while they are fighting."

"Roger that!" she answered, saluting. She then saluted at Mason on the roof, and he reciprocated it. Yukari then sneaked to the garage, as the fight raged on in the background.

"Nice fighting!" groaned Agent Tin. "It's only because I have an energy recharger that keeps me going!"

"Using the interference?" asked Miho, maintaining her cool.

"Clever girl," he answered curtly. "You must be the leader, to be this strong."

"I am," she politely answered back. "And I am not intending to back down."


The two kept wrestling, for what seemed like hours. However, Anzu checked her phone, which somehow still had its clock working.

"It's been 10 minutes," she said, as she was on the last rope that bound Saori. "But it sure looks like an hour."

Momo groaned, visibly discomforted by her ropes.

"Hang in there," Anzu replied, as she freed Saori, who then stretched and wasted no time in going to her team room, searching for more knives or blades to cut with.

"And you are weakening," grunted Agent Tin. Miho was sweating badly, but still kept her cool face.

"I may be," she replied. "But I have friends to protect. My comrades, my friends, my Mason."

Mason and Miho both blushed at that.

"Ha!" Agent Tin answered. "Let's see if you can resist any longer!"


The two continued to try and gain the upper hand. Miho then tried her own tricks, but Tin anticipated them. She tried to trip him with her feet, but Tin kept backing away to avoid them. Tin then tried to bash her with her own skull, but Miho backed away to avoid him. It was essentially one long wrestling match, with each trying to both attack and dodge all at the same time.

"What a fight," Anzu commented, checking her watch. "20 minutes into the fight."

Saori came back with more knives, and helped to cut the binds of Hana, while Anzu continued cutting Mako's. Both were freed, and stretched. Wasting no time, Mako then sort of dashed (more like, trying to walk fast) to the garage to deal with the electronics, while Anzu and Saori both stretched.

"Now us!" Momo yelled.

"Hold it," Anzu answered, as she commenced cutting Yuzu's ropes. "You need to calm down; let me help her."

Saori then started to cut Momo's.

"Why don't we help take him down?" Momo screamed.

"Miho wants this to be a fair fight," Mako said, as she came back with a tablet. "Let her fight."

"Can't I come down?" asked Mason.

"Nope!" Miho yelled. "Please stay there."

"I am NOT a damsel in distress!" Mason moaned. "Why am I being one?"

"You are," Mako nonchalantly replied. Mason sighed, and just sat there, watching the ensuing fight with concern.

Tin and Miho kept fighting, fighting, and fighting. Momo and Yuzu both stretched, relieved to be free of their bondage. Mako fidgeted with her gadget, while the everyone except Yukari watched. Then, Yukari came back from her room, brining her military backpack.

Now, everyone watched, as the fight continued.

"Can't we just cooperate?" groaned Momo.

"She wanted it to be a fair fight," both Anzu and Mason answered in unison. The two looked at each other, and smiled in agreement.

"Argghh!" Momo groaned. "I want to help her!"

"Because you like Mason?" asked Yuzu.

"H-hey!" she reacted, startled. "It-it's not like I like HIM or anything!"


The fight continued on; Anzu and others checked their time, and it was definitely 40 minutes since the fight began.

Now, both were starting to feel tired.

"How-how long were we fighting?" Tin grunted, as he accidentally loosened his grip.

Miho noticed that, and on impulse threw him with a judo throw. However, she threw him rather lightly, and focused on restraining the man.

"No more false moves," Miho answered. "And not yet, friends. Wait until I tell you."

"Clever girl," Tin replied. "But you activated my trap."

"Eh?" everybody gasped.

A blue light flashed from the back of the Agent's suit. Reacting fast, she turned him just in time, as the asphalt blocked the light.

"Clever girl," he said. "Memory erasers come in a variety of forms. But that is the least of your problem."

"What do you mean?" Miho asked.

"Check this," Tin said, turning his head around spitting something out.

"Eww!" the girls reacted, as the spit landed on the asphalt. Then, the whitish mass started to turn green, and grew.

The girls gasped.

"Another manifestation of the interference," he explained. "If the memory eraser does not work, then this should."

"Wait a minute!" Momo roared, charging at the spit. "What is this—ahh!"

The spit suddenly turned red, and jumped at her. Miho saw this, and tackled her just in time. The spit missed Momo and Miho by mere centimeters, as it landed on the other side. Agent Tin then stood up, fixing his suit.

"Transform," he commanded the spit, which morphed into a pinkish mass and grew in a few seconds. The girls gasped, horrified as it started to develop a concrete form.

The mass formed a head, two hands, and two feet. Then, parts of it turned black, and the surface turned from pinkish to dark brown. In a few seconds, it morphed into a complete clone of the Agent.

The girls gasped, horrified.

"Interference has a variety of uses," Agent Tin explained. "One obvious way is cloning. In real life, cloning is a ridiculously long, complex process that has more problems than solutions. With interference, it is infinitely easier to do."

"Unfortunately," he continued. "This form of interference is only temporary, since it is created from 'imperfect' versions of the interference. That's why the Corporation needs a fresher, better source of interference, and my detector senses a lot of it from you."

He pointed at the girls. Miho was pale in the face, but held her ground. Anzu also approached, and stood at a distance next to Miho.

"C-can I come down?" asked Mason.

"Nope," Miho said, smiling up at him. "You're safe there; he's not done yet."

"Clever girl," both Tin and his clone responded in unison. The overlapping of their voices sent shivers down the spines of everyone present.

"It looks like the girls now know much," the clone replied.

"And so does that boy," Agent Tin remarked.

"What should we do?" asked the clone.

"Kill them all," said Agent Tin.

The girls gasped, and Mason, in a huge burst of adrenaline, jumped down, rolled on the ground (he saw a clip on Internet that this was crucial to jumping down carefully), and shielded the girls.

"Hold it right," he panted. "I-I may not be strong, but I am a man! A young man! And you shall not lay a single bloody hand on my friends!"

The Agent and his clone both laughed, sending more chills down the girls' and Mason's back.

"Your girlfriends?" both of them taunted him.

"M-maybe!" he answered. Miho blushed bright red at that.

"Nice try," said both, as they spat again. The spits rapidly turned green, then red, and morphed into two more complete clones.

"Fortunately for you," said Agent Tin. "This power lasts only a few minutes, but while I can, I will personally strangle you all. Then, we'll take your bodies back to the base. Apparently, a freshly killed life still has a good amount of interference lingering. If I cannot get you alive, at least I can bring your bodies."

They started to spit again, but the girls had it. Miho grabbed something from Yukari's backpack, which was already opened to be used, and sprayed at them.

"Arrghh!" Tin and his clones coughed, as the pepper spray blinded them. Their spits also got affected, and did not materialize when they dropped to the ground. The spits made small shrieks, then disappeared like smoke.

"Get them!" Miho roared, and everybody responded, except Mason.

"Wow!" Mason remembered. "I remember mom telling me not to get into any fight."

"We'll handle it for you!" Miho answered him, as she tackled the real man. Mason felt red, embarrassed that he really felt like a damsel in distress.

"I am going to ask my mom, next time," he said to himself, as he watched the fight.

It turned into another wrestling match, but bigger as the girls tried to subdue their enemies. Miho personally wrestled with the Agent Tin, all by herself again. Saori and Hana both tackled one clone, while Yukari and Momo dealt with another. Yuzu and Anzu both tackled the last clone. Mako, however, stayed at a distance, manipulating with her tablet.

"Eww!" Momo grunted. "We're dealing with weird clones of a strange man, and all of them were created with his spit!"

"Eww!" Saori responded, as she wrestled with her target. "That's gross! You make me want to take a shower afterwards!"

"Just keep fighting!" Anzu called out to them nonchalantly, as she poked the clone in the eyes with a very hard piece of dried sweet potato. The clone winced in pain, and she and Yuzu knocked him down, their bodies slamming him hard unto the asphalt.

"Uf!" it groaned, and stopped breathing. Anzu and Yuzu suddenly backed away, as the clone rapidly disintegrated into a strange puff of green smoke, which disappeared faster than the clone was made.

"Eww," the two responded, but smiled at their success.

The others, encouraged by the defeat, then strangled their own targets further. Hana realized that she was as tall as the clone, and used her height to slam him.

"My mom would not like it," she calmly commented. "When I almost ruined by body with a body slam."

"Hold it!" Saori said, as the two restrained their target.

"Just knock him down," Anzu said.

The two obediently punched the clone, very hard. It then stopped fighting, and the two backed away, as it also turned into a green cloud that quickly disappeared.

Yukari and Momo, however, were having some trouble. The clone, seeing the others fall apart, started to wrestle with Yukari and Momo harder than ever.

"This guy is hard!" Momo groaned.

"Momo-chan!" Yuzu called out. "Aren't you a little taller than he?"

"I am NOT!" she replied without thinking, as she gave the clone a body slam, just as Hana did. The clone suddenly fell down, hard. It also disappeared in a cloud of strange green smoke, and the girls backed away to avoid it.

Miho, however, was having a particularly difficult time with Tin. The two went into a very furious match.

"I am not," he growled. "Going-to-be-defeated…by a little girl!"

"I am not little," said Miho. "But I have my strength."

"Insolent fool," he taunted her. "You can't defeat me, for I am made of metal, while you are made of carbon."

"Eh?" everybody responded to that.

The shock gave Tin the opportunity to throw Miho to the ground. However, she used her free left arm to soften the fall, and she came back up. Just then, Copper started to regain his consciousness.

"Arghh…" he moaned. "What just happened?"

"Copper…Tin…" Miho wondered. "You know, you two seem quite similar."

"Yes, we are!" Tin grunted, clenching his fists. "And we'll stick together, like copper and tin."

"But isn't it getting hot?" asked Copper, as he tried to get into the shade of the car. "Boy, I thought I was melting."

"Shut up!" Tin said. "We're now humans, not me-I mean, monsters or aliens like they, you know."

Miho squinted, and noticed Tin's eyes shake, causing her to remember something...


"Miho," her mother stood before her one day.

"Y-yes, okaa-san?" Miho asked.

"Have you wondered," she began. "Whether someone is lying or not?"

"No?"

"Look at their eyes," she told her. "Just as a criminal trembles when he or she is caught, so their eyes tremble at their sins."


She remembered.

"You two," Miho began. "Are not humans."

Everybody gasped.

"H-hey!" Copper roared. "Tin! You shouldn't have mentioned it!"

"It was your fault for losing consciousness!" Tin roared back. "And I—"

Miho had enough. She charged in, a mysterious stream of golden glow in her wake. She slammed into Tin, then gave him a punch so hard, he literally catapulted to where Copper was. He slammed into Copper, groaning.

"You are not humans," she said, approaching. "You are actually…"

She breathed, and Mason noticed something glowing from her hands. She then commenced pummeling the men, and as she did, the Agents started to pale, then their skin stared to fall off like paint.

"Wow!" Yukari screamed in delight. "Is Miho using it?"

"Guess so," Mako replied. "Whatever the interference is, Miho seems to quickly learn to utilize it well."

"And what are..." Momo trailed off, as she and others noticed something odd from the agents.

"Are you kidding me?" everybody gasped, as the Agents started to look as if they were cracking and melting, like real metals.

Miho kept pummeling the agents, and her friends watched in horror, as they saw that the "men" turned out to not be what they thought they were.

"Statues, eh?" Miho remarked, as she continued. "Brought to life with a strange form of interference. How did you all originate?"

She kept pummeling them, which exposed their true colors further. It helped that the sunlight blazed down upon them, accelerating the process.

"I-I-dunno!" the Agents tried to reason. "We-we just want to be humans!"

"What is the point of being a human," she stopped pummeling, but towered over them. "When the Corporation just treats you as a bunch of metals?"

"You-you're…" Agent Tin began, but started to melt together. The girls gasped, as the two started to merge together.

"Who are you?" Mason finally asked, coming forward. He was now right next to Miho.

"You are right," Copper finally said, sighing in resignation. He and Tin started to melt together, and their faces started to lose their human appearance. Despite that, both still had mouths to talk.

"We are just one whole piece of precious bronze," Copper admitted. "The Corporation just tested on us, wondering whether the interference could 'create life.' Well, to be honest, we are sort of living, but I don't think we really are."

"To be honest," Tin moaned, as he continued to merge with Copper. "We were formerly humans, or so we think. The Corporation used interference upon us, giving us life. We honestly don't know our true origins.

"It is possible," Copper groaned. "That we are technically created with intelligence, but we are not really humans. We want to be..."

"Something useful," Tin stated. "And feel 'useful' for once to humans."

"Yes, you are," Miho suddenly said, as she knelt down to them. "You've already shown that you all are great at fighting. Despite the cheating, that is."

She smiled, and the two Agents smiled back.

"Th-thank you," Copper managed to blurt out. "At least we felt meaningful."

"Thanks," Tin said curtly, as the two completely merged together.

The group backed away, as the mass of copper and tin morphed and towered, and turned into a statue. The statue bore a tall man in strange armor, with a strange ball in his left.

"Are you kidding me?" Mason reacted in shock.

"What?" the girls asked.

"T-this is the statue!" Mason explained. "A long time ago, when I was younger back then, somebody stole the famous statue of a local football star!"

"You mean," said Mako. "American football."

"Yes!" said Mason. "Sorry that I forgot about that! Hehe. Well, this was the statue that was stolen years ago…"

"And the Corporation," began Miho, but chose not to finish. Everybody else around her nodded, knowing what had transpired.

"So," began Momo. "Wh-what are we going to do?"

"We have to..oh!" Miho stumbled, as Saori and her friends were about to grab her. She waved them off.

"I am fine," she replied. "I think I need some rest."

"Us too," Saori chimed in, stretching. "Wow, we had enough fight and drama for one day!"

"You are right," Mason said, as he took out a phone.

"What are you doing?" asked Yukari.

"Calling an old friend," he answered. "He runs a local junkyard business; he needs the money more than I do."


"Hello?"

"Hi there!"

"Hey, old friend! OK, I found it."

"What?"

"The Bronze Blaster statue."

"The Bronze Blaster...That famous football star from Acta?"

"His statue, stolen years ago."

"Yeah-wait...WHAT? H-how did you find the statue?"

"Friends of mine helped."

"Friends? Which friends?"

"Don't worry about it."

"But what about the—"

"No, no, don't share it."

"But you and your friends found it first!"

"There is something called 'taxes,' which are a type of forced donations that the government loves to do. The government also would want to know who got it, who are involved, and act all Big Brother and stuff."

"But still…"

"I understand how you feel, Edward Sanderson. But you know about Snowden, and what happened to him?"

"Yeah…"

"Keep the whole money; I have enough troubles already in life. I want no more."


"Wow," Anzu complimented him. "You sure sound quite smart."

"It's just something I learned," Mason said, pocketing his cell phone. "As you grow older, you realize how messed up politics can get. Remember your own school? How that MEXT official tried to shut down your school? Not keeping his promise? Then stacking the odds against you with all kinds of crazy weapons, such as that Karl-Gerat?"

All eight girls silently nodded, knowing what he meant.

"And he used his own political influence," Mason continued. "To do all that. Bingo. It's not just Japan; America is just like that in many ways."

"Man," Yukari admitted. "I thought that America was way better…"

"Welcome to America," said Mason.


After the phone call, Mason, Miho, and the girls commenced the clean-up of their residence. It was an easy clean-up; Mason checked his car for any damages, while Miho checked the unconscious police officer. Anzu, Momo, and Yuzu all analyzed the statue before them, while the other girls checked the suits and gadgets of the former Agents.

Yukari was going nuts.

"AWESOME!" she went into her fangirl mode. "These are awesome! And here's the manual, explaining each gadget! This is the Anti-Detection Pressurizer, a gadget that allows you to prevent anyone from talking about something. It even tells you what words to 'interfere' with; get it? Hehe. And it lets you know what it has interfered with, who was talking about it etc.! And it even says—"

"Panzer halt," Miho said, putting her right hand on Yukari's back. She deflated like a balloon, sighing.

"Sorry, Nishizumi-dono," she replied.

"That's alright," Miho said. "We can check the gadgets later. Just collect them. So, what are we going to do with the statue?"

"And how are we going to take it to my friend's location?" asked Mason. "And no, not my car. I have seen it almost get damaged too many times already."

"And it's heavy, too!" Momo groaned, as she tested the statue. "We'll need a tank to move this thing!"

Everybody blinked.

"What?" Momo asked. "Oh..."

Everybody slowly turned to look at their garage.


"This is logical," said Mason. "But also weird."

Mason drove his car down the mountains, and ended up in a remote forest. Driving through, he found what he was looking for: a sign.

It was an old sign, typical of junkyards he had seen throughout his life. This one, however, had vines of roses surrounding the faded words:

EDWARD SANDERSON'S SALVAGE YARD

And underneath those big words, in smaller letters written with a black marker:

NO, I AM NOT SNOWDEN, BUT I LIKE HIM.

"Nice way to put it," Mason remarked, as he drove through the dirty road. He then faced the yard, full of broken cars and all kinds of "trash," left behind by all kinds of people, from poor to rich. Mason opened the gate, albeit after coating the locks in anti-bacterial hand sanitizer. He then forcefully opened the gate, and made a face at the smell.

"Typical!" he muttered, covering his mouth with his left hand. He traveled through the lot, full of piles after piles of all kinds of stuff; he also knew that it was infamous for being a "dumping ground" for criminals who just throw all kinds of stuff away. Fortunately, the owner of the yard is famous for his trustworthy nature, and police officers like him for his honesty.

This is why Mason called him.

"Brother!" a rather raspy voice called out from a shack nearby.

"Oh please," Mason said, covering himself in the sanitizer.

"So good to see you!" Edward charged at him, ready to hug him. "I am—arrghh! I hate sanitizer, you know?"

"I like being clean, please," Mason said. "Plus, I have new friends who appreciate being clean."

"Oh, alright!" he replied, clapping his hands. "So, let's get to the point."


"He's a man of few words," Mason remarked, getting into his car and calling his friends. "Miho, Anzu! Can you all track it?"

"We're still figuring out the Agents' devices," Miho's voice called over. "Plus, I have to keep physically reminding Yukari not to go...what do you call it?"

"We call it 'fangirling' or something like that," answered Mason. "Anyway, what did you all find, other than that GPS thing that tracks my car?"

"Loads of stuff!" Yukari's passionate voice boomed from the phone. It was far away, but still loud enough for Mason to wince a little.

"Yukari," Miho called out from the phone. "Please calm down. It's futuristic technology, but we are still figuring it out."

"But it's so cool!" her voice boomed.

"It is," Mason admitted. "So, any news?"

"OK," Miho said. "Mako managed to somehow pinpoint your location, and the pathway to there. Wow, even the most advanced GPS looks nothing like this.

"Now," Anzu's voice echoed from the phone. "We know our plan."

"OK," said Mason. "I got my friend's permission. He will take the whole credit for it, since I do not want you all or I to get into any mess. The plan is let him assume that he found it, and we'll just get away."

"Roger that!" the girls called from the phone.

"Thanks," he replied, turning it off. "Now, let's wait."


"Careful!" Mason called out, directing the tank.

Mason decided to use his hand signals to direct the Panzer IV ausf H. It roared and groaned, as its tracks pulverized the poor weeds beneath; as usual, it traversed over the forest cover, avoiding the asphalt roads as much as possible. On top of it, the statue was bound tight, with the same ropes used to bind the girls before.

"Well, well," Mason said, as the tank drew near. "Stop at the wall."

The tank stopped, and three of the strongest girls went out to lift the statue.

"Hold it!" Mason commanded them, as he went inside the yard. "And careful! That thing is expensive!"

"We're the strongest, eh?" Momo grunted, lifting up one side of the statue. For some reason, the statue's bottom was triangular, which was perfect. Momo held one side, while Miho and Yukari held the others.

"But," Miho said, as she calmly lifted the statue with the others. "We'll need more, so we'll train after we rest from today."

"Wait!" Saori called from the tank interior. "Self-defense training?"

"Yes," said Miho. "I realize that I am the only one who knows that, so we'll all train as a safety measure."

"Me too!" Mason said. "I don't want to sit behind and..."

Both blushed, knowing what they were thinking about. Saori smirked.

"Let's get going," Saori said, breaking the awkward silence.

"OK!" Mason quickly said. "Steady; now, throw into this specific pile of dump. That way, it will look like somebody legitimately dumped it here."

"What about your friend?" asked Yukari.

"He's learning how to feign innocence," he told them. "As a promise, he's not going to talk about you or me. He's great at that."

"Good," Saori said. "And we'll use our devices to eliminate our tracks."

"Thanks!" Mason answered. "Oh yeah, mine too!"


"Mr. Edward Sanderson?" the police officer said, as he and his crew checked the statue.

"Yes?" he asked proudly, as a huge crowd was there, with news reporters flocking to him to get his opinion. In the background, a truck was loading the statue.

"How was it possible to find this statue?" asked the officer and others.

"It's a dumping ground," he replied. "That's that."

"And how?" they asked.

He just shrugged, and gave a weird grin that obviously made others NOT want to talk much. Edward had some sort of an ability to make people not talk much; Mason found this useful, as he was one of the very few who knew about the girls and their tank.

"No tracks," the officer whispered. "No nothing to show. This is puzzling indeed, right detective?"

"Right," a group of detectives answered, surveying the whole yard. "It was obvious that the statue was dumped not long ago, but we have no evidence of who dumped it. And Edward Sanderson has a mental disorder as well, which complicates the matter."

"So he's free?" the officer asked them, who all nodded.

"Alright," he said. "Let's go."

As the detectives left, one of them stayed behind and scanned the yard.

"Can it be..." he wondered, but waved off his thought and trotted back to his group.


"We're safe," said Saori, listening to a secret headphone implanted into a nearby tree, as the junkyard's visitors gradually dispersed.

"Good," said Mason. "Now, I have to go."

"W-wait!" began Miho. "I...thanks for everything."

They blushed.

"Us too!" Yukari yelled.

"Yup!" Saori said, smiling.

"Thank you," Hana answered, curtsying.

"Good luck," Mako said flatly, but Mason noticed a little smirk on her face.

"Good luck!" Anzu said, giving him a V-sign.

"Bye-bye," Yuzu called out, as Mason went into his car.

"And make sure," Momo said loudly at the driver's window. "That you're safe and OK, OK?"

"OK," he answered, smiling. "Man, you worry like a girlfriend."

"I am not!" she roared, blushing bright red. "J-just go!"

"Farewell!" he called out, driving down. "I will be back!"

"Thanks!" everybody yelled back.

"He's so nice," Saori sighed, as the car disappeared into the road.

"And better than I thought," Momo grunted. Anzu and Yuzu both smirked at that.

"So," Miho began. "Should we start on training?"

"Even if we do," Anzu said. "Only three of us seem strong enough to fend the Agents, and we may not even have enough time to get all of us ready."

"You are right," Miho said, thinking deeply. "What should we do?"

"We need stronger girls!" Momo roared.


"What the..." a petite girl stared. With short, dark brown hair and eyes, coupled with a mostly white T-shirt and a pair of (mostly) white spats, the girl could pass for a young boy. She was playing with her volleyball, throwing it up and down, when she noticed something was up.

"Hey," the girl realized. "The lights are not flashing. The people all around me stopped walking, but look...frozen?"

She took out her cell phone, trying to call her teammates.

No signal.

"What is going on?" she said to herself. "Wait a minute, even the wind...stopped?"

The wind apparently was frozen in place; the leaves that fluttered through it stopped. The girl then leaped very high, and grabbed a leaf. It tore in half, but the other half stayed in the air, while the other half was in the girl's hand. She studied it, its green color still bright.

"Captain!" a familiar voice boomed.

She turned around, and sighed in relief to see another person unfrozen. A tall, buxom girl with brown hair and a red bandanna tied like a ribbon on her hair dashed towards the petite girl. She donned a volleyball uniform of white and red, with a number "3" on her chest.

"Kondou Taeko!" the captain answered back, dropping the torn leaf. "What just happened now?"

"I am not sure," she answered. "Captain Isobe, I was just walking to our practice, when everything literally stopped. A few girls whom I talked with suddenly stopped, and appear frozen! Now, we are the only ones who..."

"Yeah," the captain finished her sentence. "You and I seem to be the only ones alright, so we'll go to our practice location and discuss this."

The two walked towards a vast yard, next to the tank garage. They saw another welcoming sight.

"Captain!" a tall, slender girl with the same type of uniform as Taeko called from a distance; her uniform, however, had the number "5" on it. Her short, brown hair had a small ponytail held by a red hair tie.

"Kawanishi Shinobu!" the captain called out to her, as the two raced towards her.

"Rare for you to call me by my whole name," Shinobu said. "Well, Captain Isobe Noriko, what happened here?"

"We have no idea," Noriko and Taeko both answered her.

"Say," said Shinobu. "Where is Sasaki Akebi?"

"Oh!" Noriko said, dashing out to a nearby gate. "Akebi? There she is!"

The rest of the team rushed to the gate, and saw her. Akebi Sasaki was barely walking, frightened by everything around her. The tall, blond bombshell of a volleyball player trembled as she walked, shocked by the sudden changes all around. She kept turning her head around and around, the long ponytail of blond waterfall waving back and forth. She wore the same uniform as Taeko and Shinobu, except its number was "6."

"Akebi-san!" Noriko called out to her, rushing.

"Captain!" she screamed, and ran at her, hugging her tight.

"Uf!" Noriko groaned. "Did your chest grow? Man, I hope you're alright."

"I am not!" she admitted, releasing her captain and crying, tears falling down. "I was so glad to see you all!"

"I am glad we're all alright," said Noriko, as the team gathered together. Nodding to each other, and Akebi wiping the last tears away, the four girls stacked their hands together in a team hand-stack.

"Girls," Noriko declared. "I do not know what had happened, but we are all in this together. In times high and low, or crazy like now, we are all in this together! Let's go!"

"Hai!" everybody screamed, and raised their hands up.

"So," Shinobu said. "What are we going to do?"

"Eh..." Noriko looked around. "I dunno."

Shinobu put her left hand in a facepalm, while the others looked around.

The practice field was vast and empty, and everything looked frozen like elsewhere. The wind stayed as still as glass, the leaves decorating parts of the sky like lanterns on a ceiling. The girls mindlessly looked around, trying to figure out something, or at least find something.

"Hey," Akebi said, pointing at something in the distance. "The garage door."

The others looked. At the tank garage, a door was slightly open, enough for a person to go through. Between the door, they saw a faint purplish-red glow.

"Well!" Noriko said. "I guess we have to go there."

"T-there?" asked Akebi. "I-I am not sure what's there, but..."

"I think," said Shinobu. "We all have to go there."

"And," said Akebi, calmer than ever. "I saw Miho there."

"Miho?" the others asked, and stared at the gap.

They gasped, as they saw a familiar silhouette, waving at them. It then turned, the distinct hair and the Anglerfish emblem on its back.

"Yeah," Akebi said, now quite calm and content. "I think we need to follow her."

The four girls nodded to each other, and ran towards the gate.

"Miho!" all of them screamed.

"Hang in there!" Noriko yelled. "Wait for us!"


And the first battle ends...with Miho and her friends as the WINNER! OK, let's get to the point.

I apologize if I sound a little off with this chapter; I do not have a laptop, because it is getting fixed. I hope that once it is done, I can spend a better part of time revising it. I hope this chapter is great for all of you!

Please review, fave, and follow my story, and let others know, too! Thank you, and panzer vor!

Update: I got the news about the laptop. The cost sounds high, but seems manageable. And I managed to revise and edit the chapter well enough.

Update 2: Let's go GUTS!